


4 Times Steve Makes His Crush Obvious (+1 Time He Doesn't Need To)

by brominewaterandtears



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brominewaterandtears/pseuds/brominewaterandtears
Summary: Steve struggles not to make his feelings for Jos obvious during their time together in the IPL.~"Who will be better looking in 30 years time?" Steve asks, grinning self-consciously as he puts the iPad down to await an answer.Jos mulls it over. It probably wouldn't be fair to say either, so he'll just go with a quip instead to deflect the question. "Don't really think either of us are the best looking to begin with," he laughs."Filthy lie coming from you." Steve mutters under his breath, and Jos looks up in surprise."What?""What?" Steve replies, eyes wide in innocence. "Didn't say anything, was just waiting for you to answer."
Relationships: Jos Buttler/Steve Smith
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	4 Times Steve Makes His Crush Obvious (+1 Time He Doesn't Need To)

**Author's Note:**

> Listen... I know this is unorthodox but their IPL friendship is really cute and the Royals Rapid Fire video gave me so much material to work with. The way I've written Jos here is also slightly different than the usual, but I've been watching a lot of his interviews lately and realised how much of a little shit he is, which is a side to him people don't really explore but is very much present. 
> 
> Disclaimer- This is a work of fiction I do not actually think Steve and Jos are necking behind the scenes in the Ashes.
> 
> Royals Rapid Fire with Steve and Jos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCNHNlwTgnI

The Rajasthan Royals franchise has always been big on social media engagement. That's how they get new supporters, their PR head always preaches, and how they increase their profits through higher ticket sales from said new supporters. 

Of course during the pandemic ticket sales fall to the wayside in favour of monetizable likes and views on videos released of the team. Jos doesn't really mind, he understands that it's really one of the only ways the franchise can generate revenue in this tricky situation- but he minds that he always gets called upon for these videos.

As one of the more marketable members of the team he's constantly dragged into these videos, which is how he ends up sitting opposite Steve Smith on one sweltering afternoon, asking each other strangely personal questions from the iPads shoved into their hands as they walk through the door.

Steve hadn't looked too happy about it at first either, but as the questions continue he engages more and becomes more lively.

"Who will be better looking in 30 years time?" Steve asks, grinning self-consciously as he puts the iPad down to await an answer.

Jos mulls it over. It probably wouldn't be fair to say either, so he'll just go with a quip instead to deflect the question. "Don't really think either of us are the best looking to begin with," he laughs.

"Filthy lie coming from you." Steve mutters under his breath, and Jos looks up in surprise.

"What?"

"What?" Steve replies, eyes wide in innocence. "Didn't say anything, was just waiting for you to answer."

The cameraman makes a motion to indicate that that bit is being edited out, signalling them to move on.

Jos watches Steve with suspicion, but he maintains his wide eyed look of innocence so he clears his throat and continues. "I'd probably back myself then, all that heat in Australia might take its toll on your looks." He continues, and Smith grins in agreement.

"Fair enough," he says, looking back down at the iPad. The tips of his ears are stained pink, travelling all the way down to his neck as he leans down.

Jos wonders idly what's got him so flustered or overheated. He asks for one of the staff standing around to turn the AC up some more, and instantly the room is met with an influx of cold air.

He nods, satisfied. Hopefully that helps Steve.

~

The hotel provided for them in Dubai is incredible- Jos genuinely couldn't ask for more. There's not much time to use the facilities with match days close together and constant training, but he enjoys taking trips to the indoor swimming pool and sauna when he can.

The room itself is of course spacious and luxurious, perhaps even excessively so. He can roll around on his mattress for a good distance before falling off, such is its size. The only thing really lacking about the room is the walls.

They're thin, very thin, allowing him to hear the conversations and noises of the people sharing the room next to him.

On his left side it's not so bad.

Jaiswal never really makes any noise, quiet as a mouse at all times when he lounges in his room. Sometimes Jos has to stifle the urge to stick his neck round the door and check if he's there at all because he hasn't heard movement for the past 24 hours.

But on the right side. Oh on the right side, their very own captain resides. Jos would use the word 'sleeps' instead of resides, but that would be deceiving as Steve apparently never bloody goes to sleep.

At all times of day and night, a constant tap… tap… tap can be heard from the room, either practise with his actual bat or Steve shadow batting in the hallway at 3am.

On one particularly sleepless night Jos throws his pillow at the wall in frustration as noises continue from the other side of the wall. 

He knocks on the wall. "Steve. Are you shadow batting again, at," he twists to check the time, "midnight."

There's a pause, then a guilty, "... No."

Jos rolls his eyes. "Well whatever you're doing knock it off. We have practise early tomorrow."

Steve mutters his agreement, and Jos gets resettled in his bed, picking up his pillow from where he's dispatched it across the room.

He's just about to drift off again, when he can suddenly hear: tap… tap… tap.

He sits up straight, rubbing his eyes. "For fuck's sake." He mutters, swinging his legs out the bed.

Jos stomps out his room to the one next door, swinging Steve's door open.

Steve immediately looks up and drops his bat, kicking it away with his foot as if trying to pretend he hadn't been using it for the past hour.

"You." Jos growls. "Get on the bed."

Steve, wisely choosing to not disobey a sleep beleaguered Jos, gets in bed. 

"Now, go the fuck to sleep." Jos says, switching the room light off. He doesn't see Steve's face as he leaves, immediately turning on his heel to go back to his room.

He discovers that, of course, his room has locked itself when closed and he forgot to take his key card with him. Great.

Jos re-enters Steve's room, ignoring his sounds of confusion. He blindly feels for the blanket and gets in the bed, closing his eyes. After depriving him of his sleep, letting him share his bed is probably the least Steve could do to make up for it. 

"What are you-"

"Shut up." Jos mumbles, turning over and slinging an arm over the other man.

Steve wriggles around for a moment before stilling and almost seeming to deflate in something like resignation before caving and leaning into his hold.

"Goodnight." Steve whispers.

Jos grunts, patting his shoulder in acknowledgment as he drifts off.

~

Sometimes Steve rues the day Jos and Shreyas ever met.

He wasn't there, of course, he's heard their initial meeting was during the 2014 IPL in the Mumbai Indians camp. Steve can't remember exactly what he was doing at the time, but he's almost certain a supernatural shiver went down his spine when halfway across the world, Jos and Shreyas made contact for the first time. 

Shreyas is Jos' self-proclaimed 'IPL buddy', after having spent all editions of the tournament in the same franchises as each other. Steve would think their friendship was quite sweet, if they weren't downright demonic when in each other's company.

Individually? Both angels.

Together? Hellspawn.

Jos does the planning, he's the brains behind their pranks all while hiding under a sunny sweet smile. Shreyas is the enforcer, the one who'll enact their plans with a smug grin, not even bothering to hide it.

They never go too far, and only really enact mildly inconveniencing pranks that make their teammates eyes roll, but Steve still detests hearing Shreyas' hyena-like cackles as he flees the scene, knowing that as the captain he's going to be the one that victim will complain to.

And really that's the kicker, as someone who's seen all their pranks and more for three years, Steve really should have recognised what seemed like a kind-hearted act for what it really was.

Well that's slightly dramatic, but the point remains that he really should've known better.

**The Previous Day**   
**Rajasthan Royals Hotel Dining Room**

Shreyas brings a mug of steaming coffee over, face making strange contortions as if trying to fight off a smile. "Steve! Andy told us you liked coffee so Jos made you some."

Steve perks up, putting the newspaper down. "Jos made this? For me?"

"Yes. I watched him make it, he put his heart and soul into it." Shreyas confirms with wide, innocent eyes.

How thoughtful of him, Steve thinks as he takes the mug with a thanks. The fresh scent of coffee hits his nose as he inhales, and he takes a deep breath to soak it in.

He'd made a promise to himself to cut back on his caffeine dependence during the IPL, but when someone has so kindly made some coffee for him, it'd be rude to reject it. The fact that it's Jos who made it does not factor into this at all. Obviously.

He raises it to his lips carefully, taking a sip. It takes a moment for it to hit, but when it reaches him fully Steve instinctively gags. He quickly puts a blank expression on again, hoping that no one saw his expression of disgust but Shreyas is cackling to himself in the corner while watching. 

It tastes horrible.

There's really no other way to put it, Steve thinks glumly. He's sure Jos tried his best, but it might just be the one of the worst things he's ever ingested- that coming from someone who once lived off of Davey's shitty microbrew when they roomed together.

He doesn't want to disappoint Jos though and make him feel bad, so he puts on a brave face and takes another sip.

Out the corner of his eye, he spots movement in the kitchen and realises that Jos himself is standing there, watching his expressions. "This is so good!" He calls unconvincingly to the other player, eyes twitching as he fights the urge to gag.

Jos doesn't reply, head tilted to the side as he studies Steve with something akin to confusion.

"Do you like the coffee I made?" He asks, finally.

"Oh yeah, definitely. It's great." Steve nods, hoping Jos leaves soon so he can pour it into an unsuspecting houseplant.

This response seems to leave Jos even more confused, until something seems to click and amusement spreads through his features. "Oh right, I see. I'll leave you to your coffee then," he says, putting the salt shaker by him back into the cupboard.

"See you, Steve." He calls softly as he leaves, brushing Steve's shoulder with an errant hand as he walks past.

Shreyas has since disappeared from the room, wiping tears from his eyes. Steve blames his increased heart rate from Jos' touch for his stupidity, but eventually he manages to pull it together enough to realise that he'd been pranked.

That would explain why Jos was so confused then, when he kept drinking the coffee.

Steve groans suddenly, banging his head on the table. God, could he have made his crush anymore obvious? Just because he'd been told Jos made it he drank it so he wouldn't hurt his feelings, something that Jos clearly picked up on by his amusement towards the end of their interaction. 

He'd like to think that he would've done the same for the other team members- but really he probably would've frankly told them it was a bit shit. 

He groans again, and Jaiswal, hearing their captain have a breakdown in the dining area, decides to turn around and have dinner in his room instead.

One more year, Jaiswal tells himself as he bounds up the stairs, one more year here and then you can get traded to Mumbai Indians.

~

They're 80-5 against the Chennai Super Kings when Jos walks to the crease. Steve is not optimistic about their chances. 

"Pitch is pretty two-paced," he tells Jos, "incredibly hard to time the ball, and with the required run rate going up we might have to start slogging." He sighs disconsolately, rubbing the back of his neck.

It's looking like this might be their last match of the tournament, and Steve knows it's selfish to consider himself over the team- but if they lose this, he knows he's going to be absolutely hounded by the press about his captaincy. And really, he wonders if they have a point. What does it say about him that he let his team crash out this early?

Jos nudges him gently, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Don't worry skip," he says, winking, "we've got this."

Such is the power of his wink that as Jos turns and walks to his mark Steve is still left standing, slightly dazed. 

"You're not going to your mark?" Dhoni asks from behind the stumps.

"Oh right." Steve mumbles in acknowledgment, turning and somehow managing to knock over the stumps in his haze.

There's a slight delay to get the stumps back in order, and his cheeks burn bright red as he determinedly avoids making eye contact with Jos, who he can feel grinning from the other end.

In the end, Jos is right.

They storm home without losing another wicket, pushing the team up into the upper half of the points table.

"Told you we'd do it," Jos murmurs as he passes Steve, voice low and his hand a distracting warmth on Steve's lower back.

It's only a soft, fleeting touch as he moves past, but it's enough to need Steve to make a concerted effort to not melt into a puddle of goo.

~

"Who is that?" Andrew looks up and down appreciatively at the petite blonde woman stretching on the grass.

Steve smacks him round the back of the head. "Don't be a pervert. That's Louise, Jos' best friend."

Andrew raises his eyebrows disbelievingly. "Best friend? Who brings their best friend with them on a cricket tour in Dubai?"

Steve shrugs, fiddling with the cardboard sleeve on his coffee. "I guess Jos does."

"Surely there has to be something going on between them-" Andrew protests, and Steve throws the lid of his coffee at him in reply.

"Shhh. I don't want to hear it. Jos told me they're just friends and I really don't want to consider the possibility that they're not."

He'd been very insistent on that fact when Steve had asked, but even without Andrew's disbelief the thoughts of what-if swirl around his head.

"If you say so." Andrew concedes, raising his beer to his lips. "What's she doing then, yoga?"

"Pilates," Steve corrects absently. "She teaches it too, I had a session with her a week ago."

Andrew chokes on his beer. "You? You did pilates? You hate all that stuff though- exercises that involve flexibility. You threatened to leave the Test team when Langer encouraged us to sign up for yoga lessons."

Steve shrugs. "Jos said it would be nice if I could attend a session because it was hard for her to make as much money through online lessons, so it was kind of a favour to him."

"Of course, if Jos asks." Andrew mocks lightheartedly. He draws back to look squarely at Steve when he receives no response. "Wait. I was just teasing, do you, do you actually like him?"

Steve shifts down in his seat, hunched over in embarrassment. "... Maybe." He mumbles faintly.

"Holy shit."

Andrew suddenly plucks the coffee out of Steve's grasp and switches it for the bottle in his own hands. "I think you might need this more than coffee right now," he says, pointing to the beer.

Steve looks at the bottle in his hands consideringly. Well. He's not entirely wrong.

He shrugs, downing the rest of it as Louise goes into the downward dog pose on the lawn.

~

Jos stands in front of the vending machine, juggling five cans of mountain dew in one hand and red bull in the other. As a senior in the team, he really should be able to avoid being sent on errands for the team by now but he'd felt bad at Jaiswal's terrified expressions as the team yelled their drink orders at the boy.

Hence, he'd volunteered to make the drinks run, an act of charity he was deeply regretting. He debates leaving TC's red bull behind to make more space in his arms (and to get back at him for COD last night), but eventually decides that's too rude.

He turns to make his way back down the corridor, only to see Andrew approaching him from the opposite direction.

"Jos!" The man calls, jogging lightly up to him. "Just came to see how you were doing with the drinks."

"Not great to be honest, there's a lot to carry-"

"That's great to hear." Andrew cuts him off. "Anyway, I came here to discuss something with you."

"I thought you came to help me with the drinks?" Jos frowns.

"Oh no, I was lying." Andrew admits, waving it off. "Just wanted to talk to you in private."

Jos raises an eyebrow. "In private? Alright then, talk."

Andrew suddenly leans forward, grasping Jos by the shoulders and staring into his eyes with a haunted expression. "Please tell me you know that Steve has a massive fucking crush on you. I swear to god I can't go one more net session with him gushing about your eyes and your dimples or whatever the fuck. I'm going mad!"

He expects Jos to react with surprise, or perhaps confusion.

Jos does neither.

Instead he snorts, throwing his head back in laughter. "Oh yeah," he says, "I know about Steve's crush. Figured it out around the time he pretended to like a coffee I'd made for him with a metric ton of salt."

"Oh." Andrew deflates. "Well that was very anticlimactic."

Jos shrugs.

"So you like him back right? You're not just jerking him around?"

"No, I definitely like him. I was kind of waiting for him to come ask me out, but I'm getting the feeling I might have to make the first move." Jos muses, shifting the cans around in his arms.

"Oh 100%," Andrew confirms, "that man won't believe he has a chance unless you tattoo it on his forehead."

"Guess I'll have to convince him then." Jos grins, looking not entirely unhappy with the prospect.

Andrew rolls his eyes, deciding he doesn't want to hear about how exactly Jos aims to go about 'convincing' him. On the subject of dating though…

"So, uh," Andrew begins with a forced air of casualness, "on a sort of related note, I wanted to ask- Louise is definitely single then?"

Jos raises his eyebrows at the non-sequitur. "Depends who's asking."

"Well… me. I'm asking."

"Definitely in a committed relationship then. Hardcore married, has a husband, five husbands in fact, that's how married she is-" Jos ducks, cackling as Andrew shucks off his flip-flop and launches it at the keeper's face.

"Be serious!"

"Fine! Fine, put down your fucking flip-flop." Andrew lowers it, but still holds it threateningly. "She's single. I would give you the whole treat her with respect speech but honestly she's terrifying and can do it herself."

Andrew blows out a loud breath. "See? Was that so hard?"

"Talking to you? Yes."

Jos takes off down the hallway before Andrew can react, the sound of cans clanging together madly in his arms fading as he scampers away. Andrew half heartedly throws his flip flop after him.

He sighs, rubbing his face.

God help Steve.


End file.
